This Blogger Spills How She Keeps Her Unicorn Hair Fresh + Healthy

If you’ve ever scoured Instagram looking for #hairinspo, then you know those girls. The ones whose hair is just, well, ridiculously perfect and absolutely amazing (cue the jelly emoticon now). How do they do it? Lucky for you, we’re getting up close and personal with those Instababes and asking them to spill their fab hair secrets.

For this installment of #Hairenvy, we’re getting up close and personal with @imperfectwonder, otherwise known as Casey Shteamer, Instababe and editor in chief of Imperfect Wonder. Her philosophy — that we don’t have to be perfect to be good, we just need to be true to ourselves — led her to start the blog, where she muses about fashion, apartment decor and beauty tips, all while snapping selfies around her hometown of Chicago. In between her adventures in travel and dyeing her hair every color of the rainbow, we got the scoop on how she pumps up her roots and keeps her color from fading, and the cool way she uses Pinterest to get inspo for future shades.

1. What is the first thing you do to your hair when you wake up? I’m pretty low key when it comes to morning hair. I’ll just run a brush through it.

2. Take us through the rest of your morning hair routine. If I am not washing it that day, I’ll add in some dry shampoo and fluff it up a bit to give it some volume. Sometimes I will straighten the ends as well.

4. What’s your one tip to making your hair selfie-ready? Have my best friend do it!

5. What do you do when you wash your hair? I color my hair a lot and have had every color from pink to green to blue to orange. What I’ve learned over time is that to keep it looking fresh, you must shampoo only with cold water. If you use warm, it compromises the color and will make it look much more faded.

6. Air dry or blow dry? I air dry my hair if I don’t think I am going anywhere important to let it have a break from styling. Otherwise, I blow dry and then straighten or curl with a straightener.

7. What’s your current go-to style + why? I blow dry and then straighten the ends because it’s so quick and easy!

8. Favorite current date hairstyle? For a date or when I want to look a bit nicer than normal, I like to add in waves. But I always keep a couple inches at the top and bottom straight so I don’t look like Shirley Temple!

9. Do you have any nighttime hair care secrets? I have started putting in a bit of coconut oil in my hair before bed. It makes your hair greasy and you definitely need to get it all out before going in public, but it helps so much.

10. What’s the one hair product you can’t live without? Dry shampoo!

11. You change your color often. How do you keep your hair healthy with each process? I use Olaplex, which is a product the colorist puts in the color or bleach to condition your hair as you are processing it. It’s a miracle worker. Also, I am now rocking a dark root to give my hair a break from the bleach.

12. What’s your favorite hair color that you’ve had and why? I am partial to the all-over white with a half inch dark root. I think it’s what looks the best, but I also really loved the unicorn hair (blue, pink, purple and mint) that I had this summer for a fun change.

13. How do you choose the color you want to do? Do you base it on trends or your mood? Is there any color you won’t do? I don’t think at this point there is any color I wouldn’t do but I probably shouldn’t say that (haha). I collaborate with my colorist, Lindsay Kotay, and we pick the colors together. She is great with keeping up with all the latest in the hair world and I trust her vision completely. She will send me a picture of a watercolor painting or an image she found on Pinterest and we’ll work on trying to do similar shades. We are always on the lookout for interesting color combinations to try.

14. Do you match your style to show off your color, like long and wavy when the ends are a deep orange or high pony when it’s growing out? I definitely have had to alter my style based on my hair color. Usually when I have newly colored hair, I wear neutrals clothes or a color palette that complements the hair. It is very intentional.

15. What do you think will be the next big hair color trend, and are you on board? I think the whole color trend started with dustier pastel tones and now is moving toward bolder colors, and I’m looking forward to trying it. Changing hair color is fun because you have to surrender control of your looks. It’s been a nice exercise.